Australia Warren Guy, 1895 -1922

An often commented on grave marker at Camptown Cemetery is that of Australia Guy.  It lies in the Guy plot, on the eastern end of the grounds.  

Time and a bit of research have garnered only small bits and pieces of his life, but they do help to reinforce the fact that he was a living, breathing human being, far more so than is first intuited from the cool stone that remembers him.  

According to the 1900 census, Australia was one of eight children of William and Ellen Guy.  William  was born into bondage in Louisiana, Ellen in Texas, and neither had learned to read or write.  All of Australia's siblings, however, were granted the gift of literacy, and his old sister Bedia, eventually even became a public school teacher in Brenham.  

Australia speaks on opportunities at his graduation

(Brenham Daily Banner, May 23, 1912 p 5)

We do know that Australia graduated from East Side High School, which ironically was immediately adjacent to Camptown Cemetery.  He spoke at his commencement exercises on the subject of "Present Opportunities," a presentation which "showed careful preparation and research and proved that the colored high school maintains a high standard."  

Australia's draft notice 

(Brenham Dailiy Banner-Press, July 11, 1917 p 1)

Australia remained in Brenham after graduation.  When the United States entered into the First World War and the draft was enacted, he registered.

(found at Familysearch.org)

(found at Familysearch.org)

He was living at 309 Bragg, and working as a clerk for Clarence Scott, a black grocer.  His build and height is given as medium, and he lists himself as married with a dependent wife.  

(found at Familysearch.org)

He was formally married to Woodie E. Jones on April 14, 1919, with a license issued shortly after his demobilization from the service. 

(found at Familysearch.org)

Australia was drafted and inducted in San Antonio, at Fort Sam Houston on August 24, 1917.  He was assigned to the Medical Department, and then into the Sanitary Department, where he served until his discharge.  He served overseas from June of 1918 until February of 1919, in the Meuse-Argonne Defensive sector.  

(found at Familysearch.org)

After his demobilization in April of 1919 (and the formalization of his marriage to Woodie Jones) Australia moved to Dallas. He was living at 2507 Flora Street there when he filed an application for a Victory Medal. 

Death notice and card of thanks regarding his death

(Dallas Express, December 16, 1922)

​

Australia and his wife moved again, to 1016 Dodd Street where they lived with his brother, Terry and worked at the Adolphus Hotel.  The Adolphus had been the site of a particularly ugly incident in the spring of 1921 during a time when the newly reorganized Ku Klux Klan was resurgent in Dallas.  Bellboy Alex Johnson was accused of "doing something he had no right to do" and was dragged from the hotel by local Klan members.  He was whipped, the initials "KKK" etched into his forehead with acid, and forced to walk back bleeding and without his shirt into the Adolphus lobby. The Sheriff and police department refused to investigated. 

This was the environment in which Australia was working as a bellboy in November 30,1922, when he somehow fell down three stories in an elevator shaft.  He shattered his pelvis and died of internal hemorrhaging at 3 in the afternoon on December 2, at St. Paul's Sanitarium in Dallas. 

Australia was a member of American Woodmen and the St. Luke lodge No. 1 of the colored Knights of Pythias.  They assisted in the transport of his body to Brenham.  Flowers were sent from the Adolphus Hotel and Titche-Goettinger's department store.  He was buried on December 15 in Camptown Cemetery, in view of the high school he had graduated from and Mt. Rose Baptist Church, of which he was a member. His story is but one of the many the cemetery waits to tell us.

Death Certificate

(as found at Familysearch.org)